Water Resources Planning and Management
Program Coordinator
John Labadie, Ph.D.
labadie@engr.colostate.edu
(970) 491-6898
Introduction
The Water Resources Planning and Management Division is unique in providing a linkage of the technologies available in the existing water-related disciplines in civil engineering, including hydrology, hydraulics, groundwater, and environmental engineering, with interdisciplinary studies in economics, water law, natural science, mathematics, statistics, computer science, and decision science, for the purpose of providing graduate training and conducting interdisciplinary research in water resources planning and management.
The decision-making focus of the WRPM Division places emphasis on application of advanced computer technology, decision support systems, geographic information systems, mathematical programming, and artificial intelligence to water resources and environmental systems. These tools are applied to complex multiple objective problems involving analysis of multi-facility, multi-purpose systems requiring coordinated planning, management, and operations for water supply, hydropower, flood control, irrigation, wastewater management, water quality control, and conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water.
Graduate studies in Water Resources Planning and Management typically consider issues like the following:
- Water Resources Planning
- Water Resource Systems Analysis
- Decision Support Systems
- Advanced Computer Technology for Water Management
- Geographical Information Systems in Water Resources
- Simulation and Optimization Modeling Technologies
- Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis in Reservoir System Design and Operation
- Integration of Water Quantity and Water Quality Management
- Water Infrastructure Planning and Management
- Conjunctive Management of Groundwater and Surface Water Resources
- Advanced Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Water Management
- Automation and Real-time Control of Water Systems
Research
Some current and recent research projects conducted in theWater Resources Planning and Management Division include:
- Development of Real Time Water Resources Management System [Korea Water Resources Corporation, Taejon, Korea]
- Imperial Irrigation District/San Diego County Water Authority Water Transfer EIR/EIS--Conservation Modeling [CH2M Hill, Inc. and Imperial Irrigation Company, Brawley, Calif.]
- Hierarchical Strategies for Recovery of a Salinity-Threatened Irrigated Valley [U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program]
- Description and Interpretation of Salinization in the Lower Arkansas River Basin [U.S. Geological Survey and Colorado Water Resources Research Institute]
- Identification, Public Awareness, and Solution of Waterlogging/Salinity Problems in the Lower Arkansas River Valley, Colorado [U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Water Management and Conservation Program]
- Decision Support System for Regional Water Quantity/Quality Evaluation of BMP’s in Irrigated Agriculture [Agricultural Experiment Station, State of Colorado]
- Cooperative Agreement for Hydrologic Model Development and Maintenance [U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Region]
- Development of Decision Support System for Upper Snake River Basin [U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Pacific Northwest Region]
- Hydropower Unit Scheduling Package for RAMS (Reclamation Alternative Modular SCADA) System [U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Hydroelectric Research and Technical Services Group]
- Integration of Water Quantity/Quality in Agricultural Water Transfers [Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station]
- Integration of Water Quantity and Quality in River Basin Modeling [Colorado Water Resources Research Institute]
- Optimal Stormwater Management for Coastal Ecosystem Restoration [South Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach, Florida]
Faculty
The following faculty members are part of Colorado State's Water Resources Planning and Management Program:
Darrell Fontane, Professor
Luis Garcia, Professor and Department Head
Timothy Gates, Professor
Neil Grigg, Professor
John Labadie, Professor
Evan Vlachos, Professor
Facilities and Resources
Research and instructional programs in the Water Resources Planning and Management Division make extensive use of the various computing facilities of Engineering Network Services and the Water Resource Systems Engineering Laboratory within the Division. Powerful desktop computing workstations are available with the most recent Windows-based operating systems. The GIS Engineering Design Laboratory application of geographic information systems in engineering is also available which includes licensed ArcGIS software installation from ESRI, Inc.
Courses
The Water Resources Planning and Management Division is interdisciplinary and relies on a mixture of courses in civil engineering infrastructure, water resources planning and management, systems analysis and optimization, water resources engineering, geographic engineering systems, and the social sciences. The student is required to develop an appropriate plan of study with the academic adviser. In consultation with the adviser, the student selects appropriate area(s) of emphasis which will normally include the Division core courses in systems analysis and water resources planning and management, as well as an appropriate selection of technical or policy-oriented courses offered by other departments or programs. The M.S. program involves selection of courses that emphasize preparation for practice. The Ph.D. degree emphasizes research skills and an advanced understanding of systems analysis and planning/management topics.
Typical Programs of Study
Individual programs of study are determined considering the student’s educational goals and will often vary from the examples given. The sample Ph.D. program assumes completion of a M.S. degree at Colorado State University in the same area of emphasis or equivalent. The courses preceded by an asterisk (*) are core courses which are required unless an equivalent course has been completed elsewhere and accepted by the student’s committee.
| M.S. Degree Program (non-thesis option--Plan B) |
Credits |
|
EG 510 |
Linear Programming and Network Flows |
3 |
|
CIVE 544 |
Water Resources Planning and Management |
3 |
|
CIVE 546 |
Water Resource Systems Analysis |
3 |
|
CIVE 577 |
GIS in Civil and Environmental Engineering |
3 |
|
|
Professional Paper Independent Study |
2 |
|
Select at least two technical elective courses (**) |
6 |
|
Select remaining courses from technical (**) and functional electives (+) |
12 |
|
|
TOTAL |
32 |
M.S. Degree Program (thesis option--Plan A) |
Credits |
|
EG 510 |
Linear Programming and Network Flows |
3 |
|
CIVE 544 |
Water Resources Planning and Management |
3 |
|
CIVE 546 |
Water Resource Systems Analysis |
3 |
|
CIVE 577 |
GIS in Civil and Environmental Engineering |
3 |
|
CIVE 699HV |
Thesis in Water Resource Planning and Management |
6 |
|
|
Select at least two technical elective courses (**) |
6 |
|
Select remaining courses from technical (**) and functional electives (+) |
6 |
|
|
TOTAL |
30 |
Ph.D. Program |
Credits |
|
CIVE 578 |
Infrastructure Engineering and Management |
3 |
|
IVE 645 |
Computer-Aided Water Management and Control |
3 |
|
EG 610 |
Engineering Decision Support and Expert Systems |
3 |
|
CIVE 799HV |
Dissertation in Water Resource Planning and Management |
12 |
|
|
Select at least two technical elective courses (**) |
6 |
|
Select remaining courses from technical (**) and functional electives (+) |
15 |
|
|
TOTAL |
42 |
| (**) Technical Electives (suggested, not comprehensive) |
Credits |
| CIVE 520 |
Physical Hydrology |
3 |
| CIVE 522 |
Engineering Hydrology |
3 |
| CIVE 524 |
Modeling Watershed Hydrology |
4 |
| CIVE 622 |
Risk Analysis of Water/Environmental Systems |
3 |
| CIVE 624 |
Control of Floods and Droughts |
3 |
| CIVE 721 |
Stochastic Water and Environmental Systems |
3 |
| CIVE 722 |
Large-Scale Hydrology |
3 |
| CIVE 510 |
Operation of Hydraulic Systems |
3 |
| CIVE 514 |
Hydraulic Structures/Systems |
3 |
| CIVE 612 |
Open Channel Flow |
4 |
| CIVE 614 |
Hydraulics of Closed Conduits |
3 |
| CIVE 716 |
Erosion and Sedimentation |
3 |
| CIVE 717 |
River Mechanics |
3 |
| CIVE 531 |
Groundwater Hydrology |
3 |
| CIVE 631 |
Solutions to Groundwater Problems |
3 |
| CIVE 633 |
Groundwater Contaminant Transport Modeling |
3 |
| CIVE 635 |
Quantitative Hydrogeology |
3 |
| CIVE 638 |
Groundwater Quality and Contaminant Transport |
3 |
| CIVE 539 |
Water and Wastewater Analysis |
3 |
| CIVE 545 |
Management and Monitoring of Water Quality |
3 |
| CIVE 547 |
Statistics for Environmental Monitoring |
3 |
| CIVE 623 |
Water Quality Hydrology |
3 |
| (+) Technical electives (suggested, not comprehensive) |
Credits |
| CIVE 515 |
Hydropower |
3 |
| CIVE 516 |
Water Control and Measurement |
3 |
| CIVE 521 |
Hydrometry |
3 |
| CIVE 534 |
Groundwater Measurements |
3 |
| CIVE 733 |
Flow in Porous Media |
3 |
| CIVE 517 |
Surface Irrigation Systems |
3 |
| CIVE 518 |
Sprinkler and Trickle Irrigation Systems |
3 |
| CIVE 548 |
Irrigation Management for Water Quality |
3 |
| CIVE 549 |
Drainage and Wetlands Engineering |
3 |
| CIVE 639 |
Technology Assessment and Social Forecasting |
3 |
| EE 652 |
Estimation and Filtering Theory |
3 |
| EE 712 |
Topics in Control Theory |
3 |
| ME 417 |
Control Systems |
3 |
| CS 440 |
Introduction to Artificial Intelligence |
4 |
| CS 540 |
Artificial Intelligence |
4 |
| CS 545 |
Machine Learning |
4 |
| CS 640 |
Advanced Artificial Intelligence I |
2 |
| CS 641 |
Advanced Artificial Intelligence II |
2 |
| EA 342 |
Economic Analysis-Water Resources Develop |
3 |
| EA 475 |
Water Law |
2 |
| EA 540 |
Economics of Natural Resources |
2 |
| EA 541 |
Environmental Economics |
3 |
| EA 542 |
Economics of Water Resource Planning |
3 |
| EA 575 |
Water Law |
3 |
| ER 440 |
Watershed Problem Analysis |
3 |
| ER 452 |
Hydrogeology |
4 |
| ER 510 |
Watershed Management in Developing Countries |
2 |
| ER 516 |
Cumulative Effects and Watershed Analysis |
3 |
| ER 552 |
Advanced Topics in Hydrogeology |
2-3 |
| ER 712 |
Watershed Systems |
3 |
| M 520 |
Nonlinear Programming |
3 |
| M 525 |
Optimal Control |
3 |
| NR 505 |
Concepts in GI |
3 |
| NR 506 |
GIS Methods for Resource Management |
3 |
| NR 621 |
Design of Geographic Information Systems |
3 |
| LA 520 |
Geographic Information Systems |
3 |
PhD Qualifying Exam
The PhD Qualifying exam in the Water Resources Planning and Management program is administered by the student’s PhD thesis committee. The examination process consists of a written examination and an oral examination. Students should schedule the written exam with their advisor. Once their written exam is graded their advisor will guide them to schedule their oral exam. Students must pass both the written and oral examinations.
